


Reasonable Doubt

by tmf



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Is Not A Nice Man, Ben Solo is NOT redeemed, Enemies to Colleagues to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Law Firm AU, M/M, Minor Kaydel/Jessika, Organized Crime, Redemption is on the horizon!, Rey doesn't mind, Reylo - Freeform, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Modern AU, TW human trafficking, away, far, minor finnpoe, tw death mention, tw gun violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:28:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmf/pseuds/tmf
Summary: Rey Kenobi is just trying to make a name for herself in the world of criminal law, and she plans on keeping her hands as clean as physically possible. That proves to be a problem when she meets senior partner, Ben Solo.
Relationships: Kaydel Ko Connix/Jessika Pava, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 11
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my baby fic that I deleted quite a while ago. I found the saved chapters in my laptop and fell back in love with the story I had originally meant to write. I hope you can still enjoy it now, and I'm happy to be dedicating some quality time to making these nerds fall in love.

**Chapter One**

_Opening statement draft, witness accounts, argument structure._

_Opening statement draft, witness accounts, argument structure._

Over and over again she went through her very short, yet very daunting list, trying to map out a course of action as she stepped out of the heavy air of the subway station. It was one of her braver moves, trying to balance her case files in one arm and her coffee in the other, all while navigating New York’s unique pedestrian traffic. Still, she made it to the firm in one coffee stain-free piece, nudging the revolving door with her hip.

Immediately, she approached the front desk and ducked behind it, giving the the elderly receptionist a fond smile as she slipped out of her sneakers and into more office-appropriate pumps.

“Have a great day!” she called as she clacked her way to the elevators, sneakers half in her bag already. With trepidation, she pushed the button for her floor and tried her best to ignore the stares from the much older, much stiffer women in the elevator, impeccably dressed in pantsuits and rigid dresses.

Rey knew she looked every bit the part of the flustered amateur, relatively fresh out of law school and desperate for a shot at _anything_ other than research work for minor civil cases. Working at a firm as prestigious as theirs had given Rey hope that she might bypass the dreaded grunt work and get to manage criminal cases within a few months. But yet here she was, a year in and still writing up the equivalent of book reports for real lawyers to trash or scribble on. 

The elevator stopped on her floor, not even a third of the way up to the very top of the building, and Rey once again could not shake the feeling that the higher your stop was, the more you could look down on everyone else. At least, that’s what it felt like as she stepped out through the double doors with everyone’s eyes on her back. 

_Chin up, shoulders back, opening statement draft, gotta transcribe those witness accounts, and Dameron’s piss-poor argument structure._

“Rey!” 

She turned towards the warm, deep voice and smiled, “Finn, good morning!”

He cocked a grin and leaned over the top of his cubicle, which only came up to his shoulder when standing, “Is that for me?”

Rey shook the cup of coffee as much as she could without spilling it, “You wish.”

She settled into her cubicle, right behind (or, next to? she could never figure out how they were supposed to be oriented) Finn and dove into her work. It was easy for her, given the nature of her workload, to forget she worked in one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. The real offices that made up the perimeter of the cubicles were nothing if not lavish, with fancy men and women who sat in fancy chairs at fancy wooden desks. She, however, was stuck here. With grunt work. 

_You’ve done this before,_ she would say to herself, _no different than back home. Work your ass off, Kenobi_.

About an hour into her work (which was advancing splendidly, if she did say so herself), she noticed him for the first time. The impossibly tall man seemed to be circling their floor languidly, and Rey would have assumed he was hopelessly lost if it weren’t for the expensive suit he wore. He wasn’t taking notes, but with stiff shoulders and hands clasped severely behind his back, it was painfully clear he was sizing her colleagues up. She saw him hover over Jessika’s desk and narrowed her focus. 

_Weird_.

He made his way to the next section of cubicles, peering in and grimacing as he deemed appropriate for each inhabitant. She could see him a little better now, could make out the thick frame of the glasses he wore and how they rested on a nose that was slightly too big for the rest of his face. Just then, he looked up. At her. 

_Shit_.

She immediately ducked back down to her work, noting internally that this was _the_ guiltiest-looking thing she could have possibly done. She typed away dutifully, still able to see the top of his head gliding to and from randomly selected victims. She could feel tension building in the room as he made his way around the bullpen.

Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t his floor, technically, and he wasn’t wearing a visitor’s badge.She looked up once more to see if his face would jog her memory. Maybe he _did_ belong here, he was just in another department?

He was still there, and still looking directly at her cubicle. Rey pursed her lips and looked at her screen determinedly. Glasses, nose, moles, ears, and… mouth. that was all she could clearly picture in her head to describe this visitor. If he _was_ supposed to be here, however, why wasn’t anyone talking _to_ him? She could see the top of his head from where she sat; he made rounds around the other side of the room, peering into cubicles and looking into offices.

_You’ve got the pharmacy case, a couple of divorce settlements, and one actual merger that’s going to trial. Focus, Kenobi._

And so she did. The first of her tasks was now done, and the clock on the wall read 2:30. She hit save one last time and rose from her chair, casually draping herself over the wall that separated her from Finn.

“Ready for lunch?” she asked, fiddling with a loose thread on the panel of his side of the “wall”. 

“Just about,” he said, eyes on the screen, fingers flying on the keyboard, “get your things, peanut, I’ll be right there.”

Rey smiled wide. One of her favorite things about this job was Finn, if she was being completely honest. He was a kind, brilliant man, the only one to even bother helping her stay afloat during her first week at the firm. He was also the first person to get away with giving her such a completely nauseating nickname. She grabbed her wallet and phone, meeting Finn in stride and walking to the elevator. 

“Okay, so real talk,” she said, pushing the “down” button and leaning her back on the wall, “ _who_ is that creep going around the office?”

“Who do you mean?” Finn said, flipping through his phone absent-mindedly.

“Oh come on,” she half-laughed, cocking her head in the direction of the cubicles he had been circling, “The massive guy badgering the whole floor. I’ve got half a mind to fill out a full report with Dameron,” she said as she rejoined Finn and faced the elevator, “I’d say that qualifies as reportable behavior.”

Finn stilled beside her.

“What?” she bumped him with her shoulder, “I’ll let _you_ report him, if you’re so desperate to go into Dameron’s office.”

Finn clapped her lightly on the back, “Oh, peanut, you can’t be serious.”

“Seriously, what?” she asked, watching the numbers above the elevator doors go steadily down towards their level.

“You can’t _report him_ ,” he said, as if explaining to a child why you can’t touch a hot stove, “That’s Ben Solo. He’s-“

“A partner here.”

Rey froze at the sound of the tall, dark, _and apparently extremely important_ man behind her. She felt that the fact that he’d managed to sneak up behind them making no noise proved her point about how weird he was, but wisely chose not to mention it.

“Mr. Solo,” she began, vaguely wishing she’d actually thought of what to say before she began speaking. She turned to face him, “Please forgive me. I was only trying to say-“

“That I am- what was it? Reportable?” He did not seem amused, and Rey wished she could stop looking at his mouth long enough to make a second attempt at an apology. His lips, much like his other features, were slightly too big for his face, and slightly lopsided.

“I’m so sorry,” was all she could get out, and if his gaze didn’t feel so invasive, she could have held it for longer than a few seconds.

“Rey is relatively new here, Mr. Solo,” Finn said, even though that was only true by the most lax standards, “I don’t believe she’s had the pleasure of meeting every partner in the firm.”

But there was only one part of Finn’s sentence that Ben Solo seemed interested in.

“Rey.”

He said it deep and slow, and Rey extended her hand. Her eyes were glued to the way his lips seemed to purse around her name. For a man with such prominent, mismatched features, he was holding her attention a little _too_ well. At the very least she could convince herself later that this was a proper introduction.

The elevator dinged behind them, and Ben Solo breezed past her to push his level. Rey began to follow, but felt Finn pinch the back of her blouse. Ren’s eyes snapped down to Finn’s hand, and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards. The elevator doors began to close, and he disappeared with a barely audible, “Goodbye, Rey.”

* * *

“I’m so fucked.”

Rey poked at her food listlessly, opting instead to sip her iced tea.

“I’m not going to lie,” Finn said through a mouthful of salad, “that was pretty fucking horrible.”

“I hate that you’re so honest,” Rey grumbled, and scooped a spoonful of pasta into her mouth.

“Hey, on the plus side, his opinion of you can only get better from here, right?”

Rey glared at Finn, “How could I not know he was a _partner_ , for Christ’s sake?”

Finn shrugged, tipping his drink back, “Don’t beat yourself up about it, seriously. The man _never_ leaves the top floor, and he never _ever_ works directly with us or anyone at our level. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Dameron had never met face to face.”

“Yeah,” Rey liked this line of thinking, “he’ll probably forget my name by tomorrow, anyway.”

  
  


* * *

Ben Solo absolutely did _not_ forget her name.

Rey walked into the office the next day to find a huddle of paralegals walking to Poe Dameron’s office, and she caught Finn’s eye. He waved her over, taking the coffee she offered with a smile.

“Thanks, peanut.”

“What’s going on?” she whispered, rounding the corner that would leave them directly in front of their boss’s office.

“No idea,” Finn sipped his coffee, “You remembered the nutmeg- you’re an angel. Dameron sent an email at, like, two am this morning saying to meet at his office first thing in the morning. I’m guessing it’s important if it made him touch his work email before the sun was up.”

Rey frowned, and sipped her own coffee as she waited for the impromptu meeting to begin. Dameron was looking decidedly nervous, half-sitting on his desk with an empty cup of coffee resting next to him, a little too close to the edge. If he didn’t knock it over neurotically bouncing his leg, one of her colleagues was bound to, and soon. She saw Dameron look right at her-no, right _past_ her in what looked terribly close to fear. 

Rey made to turn around before a large hand landed on her shoulder and held her still.

“Rey.”

_Fuck._

“Good morning, Mr. Solo,” she said in a voice that was much smaller that she would have liked. All eyes were on her, Dameron’s looking like they might pop out of his head any minute. Ren’s hand left her shoulder, and he continued to speak from his place just behind her.

“You’re all off your current cases. I will be introducing you to a team of very eager, very optimistic law students that will take over your tasks starting tomorrow.”

That alone had the team buzzing. Dameron looked straight at her, as if this were her fault somehow.

“Kenobi, Baur, Pava, Wexley, Connix,” he took a moment to, Rey thought, bask in their horrified expressions, “You will be part of my personal prep team. I expect you all in my conference room at 6 am tomorrow. Anyone planning not to be in there _by that time_ can feel free to clean out their desks now.”

Rey practically jumped out of her skin when she felt Solo’s hand on the small of her back, light and fleeting as it was. With no further explanation, Solo made his way out of their floor, leaving Dameron to gawk at him and stutter as to how to continue with business.

“Ok, everyone,” he finally said, “Rey, Kaydel, Temmin, Finn, Jessika, go ahead and wait for me here while I get everyone else settled. Solo should be sending the interns up any minute, let me get them….” he seemed to struggle for a bit, “settled.”

With that, he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them and leaving the five very confused amateurs to stare at each other in confusion. Aside from Finn, Rey didn’t really know any of these people. She knew Connix and Pava were the only other women in her entire floor, and she vaguely wondered why she had not taken the time to get to know _them_ a little better. She found it a bit interesting that Solo had picked all of the women on the floor to be a part of this team- pleasantly surprising, but surprising nonetheless. 

Carrying that thought in mind, Rey inched closer to Pava, who not only seemed less… delicate, than Connix, but she heard she was a pleasant person.

“So,” Rey began, wincing at her socializing skills, “that was _weird_ right? It wasn’t just me?”

Pava looked up, gave Rey a very deliberate once-over, “Jessika,” she said, extending a very firm hand for Rey to shake, “I mean, I don’t think I expected anything else from the mysterious ‘Ben Solo’. I heard he was a dick.” 

Rey decided almost instantly that she liked Jessika. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun, and she very much gave off the no nonsense attitude that women in male-dominated fields tended to adopt. 

“I wonder what this case will be,” Rey continued, sipping her coffee and leaning in to Jessika, “doesn’t everyone above floor fifty take criminal cases?”

“Oh, not just criminal,” Jessika said, cracking a knuckle, “I hear they only do the most slippery stuff. Homicide, human trafficking, drug rings, the whole nine yards.”

It was then that Rey remembered exactly who she worked for. This was a private firm, and Ben Solo was most definitely _not_ a state attorney. This was a building full to the brim with defense attorneys. Very, very expensive defense attorneys.

“Shit.”

Jessika almost laughed, “There you go. If you have any bit of your conscience left, now is the time to get rid of it.”

Rey groaned, “What are the chances that we’ll be defending someone who is innocent?”

The smile on Jessika’s face got wider than it should have been able to, “Innocent people can’t afford these guys. My guess is our jobs are going to depend on us being able to _avoid_ sending a _very_ guilty person to prison.”

Just at that word, Connix slid into the conversation, “You know, it’s somehow _less_ exhausting than defending the innocent, or trying to persecute the guilty. I’m Kaydel Ko, by the way.”

Rey shook her hand, taking note of the delicate pearl bracelet on her dainty wrist, “Rey.”

“I’ve heard of you,” Kaydel replied, pointing lightly in Rey’s direction, “You’re that genius student from Ach-To, aren’t you?”

Rey nodded, “I’d say ‘genius’ is a largely undeserved description but I did go to Ach-To.”

Kaydel seemed to light up from within, “Shut up.” 

That made Jessika look up, with an expression that blatantly betrayed how impressed she was with their new conversation participant. Rey took note of how Jessika’s eyes followed the bounce of Kaydel’s curled blonde hair as it swayed on her slick ponytail.

“What?” Jessika asked through a chuckle.

“I did my undergrad thesis on you,” Kaydel said, smiling wide, “you are literally the reason why I went into law.”

Rey took her in with a smile and a soft ‘thank you’. She didn’t seem extremely young, but it was shocking that Solo had chosen a girl fresh out of law school for this project.

“No shit, Rey Kenobi,” a tall, broad man (Wexley, she remembered), said, joining their group along with Finn, “Temmin Wexley, pleasure.”

Rey shook his hand with a smile. Finn grinned at her from across the circle they had formed, and she felt a strange optimism at the thought of starting this project.

  
  


* * *

The rest of Rey’s day flew by in a blur, explaining her many ongoing projects to wide-eyed interns that suddenly seemed much, much younger than she had been when she began law school. They seemed to catch on quickly enough, but she later found she had not been the only one to hand Poe a backup of all their notes, just in case.

They had all ended up in a nearby bar at Wexley’s suggestion that they bond before beginning this sure to be “traumatic” experience.

“And here’s to Rey,” Temmin said a little too loudly, raising his third shot in the past two hours, “You’re going to need luck to take on that creep, Solo.”

They all drank, and it was only after the burn in her throat lessened that Rey said, “Wait, what? Why will I need luck?”

Jessika finished sucking on her lime wedge with a loud _pop_ , “Because he wants to fuck you.”

Finn choked on his beer, “He _what_? Since when?”

“Since never!” Rey nearly shrieked, reaching for a glass of water, “He hates me. Honestly. He basically caught me insulting him yesterday. I half-expected him to have called that meeting to fire me.”

“Maybe that’s his kink,” Kaydel said sleepily, closing her eyes and resting her head on Jessika’s shoulder. Jessika smiled and cocked her eyebrow at Rey.

“That,” Rey said, “is _so_ gross.”

Finn laughed, “We’re all joking, though, right?”

Wexley roared with laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Rey arrived at 5:30am to find that Kaydel was already setting up coffee for everyone. Kaydel was impeccably dressed, something that Rey suspected was second nature to her new colleague. Her dark blonde hair was pulled into two buns on either side of her head, a hairstyle that, had Rey herself attempted it, would have made her look incredibly childish. On Kaydel, it was sleek and feminine. Rey reflected briefly on her simple cotton dress and blazer, and made a note to take some cues from Kaydel in the future. 

Given the warm smile Kaydel greeted her with, Wexley’s idea to bond the night before had been an excellent one.

Rey had discovered that Wexley was the oldest among them at 32, Kaydel the youngest at 24. She found out that Jessika had a real life pilot’s license, Kaydel could sing, and Wexley made most of his rent money playing online poker on the weekends. They were a fine bunch, and she hoped the overflow of energy in their group would offset the misery Solo was sure to bring down on them. 

“You are a lifesaver, Ko,” she said, snatching up a cup of coffee, “You  _ do  _ know he has no intention of letting us go home before midnight, right?”

Kaydel smiled at the nickname, “I say, bring it on. He picked the only three women in the entire ‘freshmen class’, and I plan on sending him back to his higher-ups with his jaw on the floor.”

Rey liked Kaydel. Rey really, really liked Kaydel.

Finn was next to arrive, followed by Wexley, both men in offensively good moods for people in an office building before the sun came up. Jessika was the last to arrive, greeting Kaydel with a soft grunt and grabbing two cups of coffee.

“Not a morning person, Pava?” Wexley called in a loud voice. A five pm voice, Rey thought, not a five am voice.

“Not a hangover person, Wexley,” she groaned back.

They all heard the elevator’s  _ ding _ beyond the conference room, and the table fell silent. Jessika banged her against the table a couple of times before straightening in her chair. Rey looked over to Kaydel and watched her silently mouth the words  _ three, two, one _ …

The door swung open right on cue, and Rey got a reminder of just how  _ big _ this man was. He took up the entire door frame, and only a few inches spared him from having to duck to enter the room. He was dressed in a dark navy suit, with a crisp, white dress shirt and matching navy blue tie, the combination of which Rey had no doubt cost more than her rent. His eyes locked on her as he shrugged off his coat, and Rey pursed her lips. He didn’t shift his gaze as he silently removed his gloves and scarf.

He really was a very handsome man, she had to admit. There was a sort of unapologetic confidence in the way he carried himself despite his mismatched features, and she found herself  _ liking _ the way she could follow his moles around his face. She stopped just short of his mouth, not being able to fully withstand the way his lips wrapped around every word.

Wexley gave Rey a very obvious  _ See? _ stare.

“This is not play time,” were Solo’s first words, “if you are not prepared to dedicate yourself to this project, I have no use for you.”

Rey noticed Kaydel gathering up the courage to speak, “May I ask what the project is, Mr. Solo?”

“Connix, right?” she nodded, “I’m sure you’ve all heard of the mass shooting at the Hosnian Council Chambers. We will be representing the defendant in that case.”

_ So much for a clean conscience _ , Rey thought bitterly.

“Baur,” Solo said sharply, “Give us the details of this case.”

Rey felt a twinge of pride when Finn responded without missing a beat, “On the seventeenth last month at approximately 9 a.m., the Hosnian Council gathered to vote on public issues facing their community. The most controversial issue at hand was the financial funding currently being provided to The Resistance, a community outreach program that many claimed wasted resources on… less desirable community members. The shooter infiltrated council chambers through unknown means, set off small explosions meant to disable automatic doors, and opened fire on the council. Eighteen dead, thirty-five more injured, six in critical condition at D’Qar Medical Center the last I heard. The city held off on releasing the name and photo of the attacker, even though he surrendered at the scene.”

“Pava, the defendant?” Solo said, turning to train his eyes on Rey.

“Armitage Hux,” Pava began in a hard, unwavering voice, “aged thirty-three, Chief Operational Officer at First Order Solutions, the development firm based on the west side of town. Graduated summa cum laude from the naval academy there, served five years before beginning with First Order. Master’s in business administration and a PhD in business analytics, so technically ‘Dr. Hux’,” she winked at Kaydel, “He’s a model citizen, really…”

Jessika continued, but Rey found it difficult to train her eyes on her colleague when Solo would not stop  _ staring _ . He was certainly not embarrassed to have her see him, merely raising an eyebrow when she dared meet his eyes.

“What all of this means,” Solo interrupted, ignoring Jessika’s venomous look, “is that this will not be easy. I have had dossiers prepared for all of you, and you’ll see the prosecution’s evidence is substantial. Evidence of premeditation, security camera footage, plans found in his home, the list goes on and on.”

He locked eyes with her again, “Let’s get started.”

* * *

The day unfolded very similarly to what Rey had imagined; it swept by in a flurry of phone calls, emails, second, and third and fourth revisions of the same document. Somehow, Kaydel managed to handle her workload and keep all of them properly caffeinated, and Rey made a mental note to buy her a drink later.

  
  


It was very obvious she hadn’t been the only one to start digging into the case as soon as it broke, and it made Rey feel validated to know that her extra curricular research was coming in handy. The shooting had been the most deadly in decades, and was quick to be picked up by local and national news. 

She remembered her coffee dates with Finn, fuming over the fact that  _ of course _ the city had protected this monster, since he  _ looked _ like the all-american boy. What little footage had emerged of him had chilled her bones. There was an empty quality to his eyes that had stuck with her, and she could not shake the image of the small, nefarious smile on his lips as the police strapped a bulletproof vest to him and walked him into a patrol car. He was only the culmination of years of vitriol stewing in the air of their city, mostly aimed at its large community of disenfranchised youth. Now that they were being given access to more direct source material like his social media posts and his harddrive, it was very apparent that Hux was the absolute worst of all of those sentiments, all rolled into one very dangerous, very volatile man.

There had been rumors that Hux had gotten himself involved with online communities of neo-nazism, and had even participated in rallies and demonstrations. She had seen comments from ex-members claiming to have met him at those rallies, but information was scarce. She scribbled a reminder on her notepad to dig a little deeper into his socials, maybe even track his web usage on less-frequented sites.

Now that they were officially on retainer for this trial, some things became evident even before Rey began to pour over Hux’s financial records- he was loaded. He had to be, for his record to be as pristine as they were discovering. Influential acquaintances were popping up left and right, and Rey had a nagging feeling that it would be impossible to find those incriminating comments again.

If anyone were to ask Rey what her  _ actual _ opinion on Armitage Hux were, she would have inelegantly replied, “Guilty as hell.”

They had not been assigned desks, as she had expected, but rather they all sat a few seats apart around an oval table that took up the majority of their conference room. Solo came and went sporadically, sometimes bringing actual instructions, other times simply making a lap around the table and peering over their shoulders.

“I’m calling it,” Wexley said, making Jessika jump, “it’s been over five hours, we’re legally entitled to a lunch break.”

Rey didn’t look up from the bank statements she was highlighting, “He’ll probably make us order in, Wex. No leaving the building for us.”

When no one replied to her comment, Rey abandoned her work and straightened up-

-to see Ben Solo standing at the door.

“I-“

He held up his hand, and Rey instinctively snapped her mouth shut. “You have an hour for lunch, which you may take in the dining hall downstairs or outside, whichever you prefer. Your time starts now, I expect all of you back here on time to discuss your official assignments.”

The room immediately filled with the shuffling noise of people gathering their belongings, and Rey grabbed her bag as quickly as she could. She was almost out of the door, opening her mouth to speak to Jessika, when he called her back.

“Kenobi. A moment, please.”

Jessika brushed her hand against Rey’s wrist, “Hey, I’ll text you where we are and order you something.” She said it a little too loudly, as if to remind Solo that Rey was also entitled to her full lunch break. Rey watched her new friends leave and turned to face Ben Solo in defeat.

“Mr. Solo, I am so sorry, that comment was-“

“I want to offer you an opportunity, Ms. Kenobi,” he interrupted smoothly. She must not have looked very responsive, because he continued, “I’ve seen the work you do, and I want to start handing you more responsibility.”

Rey found her tongue, “With all due respect, Mr. Solo, I’ve-“

“Call me Ben,” he interrupted  _ again _ , and it took all of Rey’s self-control not to storm out of the conference room.

“I’m not comfortable with that,” she said, willing as much steel into her gaze as she could muster, “Mr. Solo, I’ve worked under you for half a day. I very much doubt I deserve any sort of special consideration.”

He stepped closer to her, and she resisted the urge to take a step back. She could see exactly how many moles were on his face from this distance, as well as the faint white scar that ran from under the right side of his jaw and diagonally across his face to his nose.

“Then allow me to rephrase,” he said in a low voice that made her stomach drop, “I’m not offering. I’m ordering.”

Rey felt her jaw set. Had he gotten closer…? The distance between them was borderline inappropriate. Rey swallowed thickly, “Yes, sir.”

Before she could turn to leave, Rey felt his finger under her chin. He tilted her face up to meet his eyes (who had the nerve to be this fucking  _ tall _ ?), “Good girl.”

With that, he was gone. Rey stood rooted to the spot, jaw hanging in disbelief and rage boiling underneath her skin.  _ Three _ bloody women in the entire entry level and he  _ dared _ treat her like-

Fuming and mumbling, she exited the conference room, slamming the door shut for no one’s benefit but her own.

* * *

When she finally made it to the restaurant the rest of the team had chosen, Jessika greeted her with a burger, a shrug, and a “You look like a chick who can really eat.”

So she did. Rey finished her meal with little conversation, staring down at her food as she considered her options. It wasn’t even that she wasn’t…  _ excited _ about the way Solo had looked at her, the way the air had been heavy with possibility right before he,  _ touched her _ …

It was inappropriate,  _ definitely _ , and although she  _ knew _ her advice to any other woman in her position would be to immediately report it, she was hesitant. The thrill that she had felt at his words...

On the way back to the firm, Kaydel hung back to talk to her.

“So,” she said lightly, holding Rey’s elbow and stopping to look both ways across the street, “what did he want?”

Rey shrugged and began walking again, “He wants to give me more responsibility on the case.”

“That’s great!” Kaydel’s smiled slipped off her face at the sight of Rey’s expression, “That’s not great. Why’s that not great?”

“I think Wex was right about him,” Rey said in a low voice.

“He’s a creep,” Kaydel supplied. When Rey nodded, she continued, “Did he come on to you, or something?”

Rey pushed the door open for Kaydel and stepped in behind her, “No, no, nothing like that. At least, I don’t think so. He’s just such a-“

“Condescending asshole?”

They looked up to find Jessika at the elevators, holding the door open for them. “Told the guys we’d catch up,” she explained.

Kaydel beamed and practically ran into the elevator, with Rey trailing behind. She pretended not to notice the way Kaydel brushed her hand against Jessika’s. Everyone knew about Pava, but Rey had a feeling Kaydel was much newer to whatever was going on between them.

“He basically ordered me to take the spot,” Rey’s lip curled, “he called me a ‘good girl’.”

Kaydel’s face scrunched up immediately, as if the cup she was drinking out of was filled with pure lemon juice, “Oh, that’s gross. That’s… really gross.”

“But I can’t quit, can I?” Rey continued, keeping her eyes on the numbers that kept rising above the door, “I’d be an idiot to pass up something like this. I could practically glide into any firm I wanted after this.”

“But you’d have to deal with a sexist asshole trying to feel you up every day,” Jessika drawled, picking at a spot under her nail, “and that’s no fun either.”

They exited the elevator in silence, with Kaydel leading a few steps ahead of them. 

She knew Solo was an asshole. Everyone knew that. But was she really going to let the first business-formal asshole she met ruin her career? Rey could bet her tiny apartment that an opportunity like this rarely, if ever, presented itself to someone like her. If he wanted to give it to her because he wanted to fuck her, that was his prerogative. She’d just have to make the absolute most out of the situation. It didn’t change the fact that she’d rather jump off their floor than sleep with Ben fucking Solo. Nothing would ever change that. So why not take advantage of men’s flightiness and get ahead?

Rey turned slightly to Jessika and whispered, “I’m doing it.”

She smiled and shoved her playfully, “Good girl.”

By five o’clock, Rey was envying the law students that poured from their office building. Their conference room had one saving grace, which was both the high floor it was on, and the fact that it faced the main street in front of them. She watched the tiny little ants scatter on the street below, sighed, and returned to her work.

She and Connix had been assigned to character defense. Before them lay several thick dossiers, containing information on Armitage Hux that ranged from medical records to high school report cards.

“You’re kidding,” Connix scoffed, leaning closer to Rey.

“I swear to God,” Rey said, grabbing the granola bar next to her pen and handing Connix the file in her hand, “Armitage Hux in a turtle costume for his third grade play.”

“Do they even filter this information?” Connix sounded positively delighted as she stared at the picture of a small, severe-looking redheaded boy in a homemade green shell.

“I think that’s what they got grunts for, Ko,” Wexley called from across the table, twirling the highlighter he’d been using, “You do the dirty work, Buns.”

Connix beamed at the nickname, and Rey grinned. This was already better than she could have hoped for-

“Status reports in my office in five minutes,” Solo seemed to come out of nowhere, and was gone just as fast.

Jessika made a show of looking around as if she had just seen a ghost.

"What the  _ fuck. _ "

Finn laughed, "I think you were onto something, Rey. Dude's creepy as hell."

Rey gestured with her pen, "See, why didn't he walk in when you said that? I'm telling you, I'm cursed."

"Or he only cares when  _ you _ say his name," Wexley cooed, puckering his lips comically through his thick beard.

"Fuck off, Wexley."

* * *

One by one, her colleagues were called into Solo’s office. They weren't coming back, which made Rey think they were being dismissed after their meeting. 

They weren't short meetings, either. Only she and Connix were left, and already it was eight in the evening. She looked over at Kaydel, who was wearily taking her hair out of the two neat buns she kept it in.

"You know," she said, twirling the shiny blond hair until it lay in two thick curls on either side of her face, "between us, I'd rather be persecuting this asshole than writing the equivalent of his online dating profile."

Rey almost choked on her laugh, "What?"

Kaydel shrugged, "You know, we're polishing him. We're trying to convince the jury that he's  _ not  _ a festering pile of shit."

Rey sighed, "This is not at all what I wanted to do with my law degree, you know."

Kaydel smiled, "Oh, I know. You forget I quite literally wrote an essay on your life."

"You gotta start somewhere, right?" Rey said bitterly.

"Started from the bottom, now we're..." she bit her lip, "still at the bottom but a little to the left."

* * *

About an hour later they caught a glimpse of Wexley making his way to the elevators with a brief wave. Shortly after, Solo stepped into the door frame and stared them down.

"Connix, you're dismissed," he said curtly. Before Kaydel could protest, he continued, "Kenobi, my office. Now."

He turned languidly and exited the room, leaving the two lawyers slightly confused and very angry.

Kaydel wrapped her scarf around her neck viciously, "Seriously, he couldn't tell me I could go home three hours ago? Fucking prick."

Rey gathered her notes and tried to be sympathetic, "At least you get to go home. Get some sleep, Ko. I have a feeling this isn't going to be our latest night here."

Kaydel nodded, buttoning her coat, "Hey, um, text me if he gets creepy, alright? Just... a single letter or something and I'll figure out a way to get you out of here."

Rey smiled, "Thanks. I think I can handle him."

"Bye!" Kaydel called from the hallway, nearly sprinting to the elevators. Rey lifted her paperwork and made her way to Ren's office. Surely he'd have one of those excessively opulent offices, with reflective surfaces and expensive mementos given to him by high profile clients.

She walked in to a surprisingly bare office. If asked, Rey was convinced that Solo would be able to clear it of all his belongings in less than five minutes. There were no picture frames on his desk or bookcase, no drawings made by young nieces or nephews. He had a single file open in front of his keyboard, flanked by an expensive looking fountain pen. 

_ No wife or kids,  _ her very unhelpful brain supplied.

He sat back, with an elbow on his armrest, and gestured to the small table to the right of the office. Rey took a seat and spread out her and Kaydel's notes, gearing up for her presentation.

She tried not to notice that he had left his chair and was walking over, taking not the chair across from her, but the one directly next to her. Their table was nestled into the corner of the office almost completely behind the entrance, which made Rey feel the slightest bit trapped.

He said nothing, did nothing. 

Back in Jakku, he wouldn't be able to scare a single fly.

"Connix and I believe that the best defense we have for Mr. Hux might be a psychotic break. Given his lack of priors and his impressive academic record, it will be easier to chalk this up to a lapse in mental stability resulting in violence."

Solo opened his mouth to protest, but Rey continued, "Of course, the premeditation works against this defense directly. People suffering from spontaneous mental breaks don't plan out an attack, much less do so as thoroughly as Hux has. For that, we might have to get a bit more creative."

He leaned closer, resting his arm on the side of the chair directly next to her.

"Have you considered my offer?" he said.

Rey forced a smile and purposefully slid her chair a foot away, "I thought it was an order, Mr. Solo."

"Ben," he corrected, "In a way, it was. A rude one, but an order nonetheless.”

She took a minute to look him over. She’d never been this close to him, and he somehow seemed even larger up close, his features all slightly too big for the rest of him. His shoulders were too broad, his hands too large, and she could see his ears poking through his long hair.

“I’m flattered,  _ Mr. Solo _ ,” she didn’t miss the way his eyes narrowed at her refusal for familiarity, “and while I don’t believe I have done much to deserve it, I’m glad for the opportunity.”

“Great.” 

He stood, walking around behind her and leaning near her ear, “Looking forward to it,  _ Rey _ .”

She cursed herself for shivering at the feeling of his breath on her neck.  _ This _ was weird. This was  _ not  _ attractive, and her breath did  _ not _ catch.

She tried to stand up in an effort to put more space between them, which backfired horribly. He straightened behind her and did not move when she turned around. Rey craned her neck to look up at him and set her jaw.

“Excuse me.”

He tipped his head down towards her, and she responded by arching her back over the table. She knew she had to do something; his hands were coming down to rest on the table on either side of her, caging her body between him and the table. 

A very quiet, very immature voice in her sounded off. It was late, and she knew for a fact that the office was empty. If she had ever had any curiosity… 

This would be the time to do it.

He leaned even closer to her and his face came into sharp focus. She could see the beginnings of stubble on his jaw, surprisingly light for the time of day. She mirrored him, approaching until the distance between them was radically inappropriate.

His breath blew past the wisps of hair on the side of her face, and it might as well have been a bucket of cold water. Her eyes widened, and his face suddenly seemed villainous in the dim light, not inviting.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. So-“

“Ben,” he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He retreated so quickly that she wondered if she’d be able to remember the feeling of his breath on her cheek.

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  
  


* * *

“It was the  _ weirdest  _ thing, Ko,” Rey said, popping the cap on her beer, and draping herself over the couch. 

“I think it’s manageable,” Jessika said, staring at Rey through her short, stout glass. Rey had not been at all surprised to find out Jessika was a scotch girl, “I mean sure, he’s a creep, but avoid nighttime meetings and use the buddy system- you’ll be fine. This case could make your career.”

“There’s a problem, though,” Kaydel chimed in. She was leaning on the kitchen counter on her forearms, scooping up brie with crackers, “Rey wants to fuck him, too.”

Rey almost choked on her beer, “Last fucking time I tell you  _ anything _ , Ko.”

“He’s got an appeal,” Jessika said, shrugging, “I mean, if you’re into the whole overgrown teenager, big nosed- actually, no, I don’t get it, sorry.”

“Moment of weakness,” Rey said, taking a long gulp of her drink, “I was exhausted, he was close, I haven’t gotten laid in months. That’s it.”

“Mm,” Kaydel said through a mouthful of cheese, “Enough about the asshole. Any chance he’ll let you meet Hux?”

Rey clinked her bottle against Jessika’s glass, “Wouldn’t be doing this if there weren’t.”

  
  


* * *

A week went by without Rey seeing the outside of Solo’s conference room. No matter how many hints she dropped about her newfound responsibilities, it seemed her rejection of him had stuck a little too well. If that were the case, her only other option would be to give him what he obviously wanted, which wasn’t really an option at all.

And yet, he watched her still.

She could feel his eyes on her every time he was in the room, bearing down like weights on her shoulders. She found herself returning the favor, not entirely sure why. There was plenty of work to keep her busy, but she couldn’t shake whatever feeling had sprouted in his office. Lust, most likely, considering no one had been in Rey’s bed in a solid five months.

Solo wasn’t an unattractive man, despite what Kaydel kept saying, and Rey doubted she was the first woman in the building to have noticed it. Just as that thought crossed her head, she locked her eyes with his. His eyebrow quirked as if he could  _ hear  _ her, and she fought the heat rising up her neck.

* * *

“Here’s to the fucking weekend!”

Rey’s scream mixed with her coworkers’ shouts in the crowded bar, and she decided she didn’t care if this was the third or fourth shot she’d forced down since they arrived an hour ago. Wexley had chosen the place, which would explain the abundance of leather couches, incandescent lamps, and slow, suggestive dancing happening just a few feet from them.

Rey blinked through her buzz, trying her hardest to focus on Finn smiling in front of her.

“We’re free for forty-eight hours Rey!”

She laughed, and the liquor made it easy to take his hand when he offered a dance. She wasn’t drunk enough not to notice Kaydel and Jessika almost hidden in the corner of the bar, Kaydel’s arm slung lazily around Jessika’s neck, their faces inches from each other.

Finn, as it turned out, was an excellent dancer. The music moved fast enough to allow him to spin and sway her, but there was something heavy in it that was quickly making Rey flush. She knew she wasn’t particularly Finn’s type, and that thought alone made her more comfortable to move as she pleased.

The beat got heavier, the dance floor more crowded, and Finn spun her one more time so her back pressed against his front. He lifted her arm and slowly, deliberately draped it around his neck. It reminded Rey of her favorite scene from  _ Dirty Dancing _ , except she was  _ not  _ Jennifer Grey and this dance did  _ not  _ make her want to giggle.

She opened her eyes then, liking the feel of Finn’s thick arm around her waist, and looked straight into the face of Ben Solo.

She almost froze, seeing him enter the bar with the rest of the upper level attorneys. Even more astonishing than the fact that they both ended up at the same bar on a Friday night was the fact that he seemed to zero in on her as soon as he entered the bar. 

Rey continued to move with Finn, and the way he followed her movements made her wonder if the label he had assigned himself was at all accurate. She closed her eyes and could picture Finn’s full lips, his dark, smooth skin, the flash of his smile. She sighed and turned to face him, trying to ignore the glare she caught from Ben Solo before turning. Finn looked down at her as if he were as shocked at his own response as she was, and she leaned up to speak in his ear.

“Not mutually exclusive, Finn!”

She sighed with relief when he grinned at the joke. He leaned back in and tried to speak above the music, “Guess not, Peanut!”

Rey laughed and swore she could not remember feeling more pure than at this moment, surrounded by people she actually  _ liked _ and feeling things she hadn’t in ages for someone she trusted. She mimed taking a drink, and Finn nodded her to the bar.

“I’ll be back!” she shouted, making her way through the small but dense crowd of sweaty bodies.

By the time she made it to the bar, the man behind it was decidedly ignoring anyone who wasn’t part of the bachelorette party that had arrived. The whoops and shrill screams almost made Rey’s head ring, and she pressed herself up against the bar, waving her arm wide.

“Hey!”

The bartender looked in her direction, raised an eyebrow, and turned right back to the bride-to-be.

Rey fumed. A drink. That’s all she wanted and wasn’t that his  _ job- _

Her train of thought stopped as suddenly as her breathing did. The two large arms on either side of her were definitely not familiar, nor was the broad chest that pressed flush against her back. Before she could turn to punch or elbow him or  _ something _ , her assailant spoke, and her blood ran cold.

“If you see something you want,” he drawled, close enough to her ear that she could feel her skin ripple with goosebumps, “you should  _ take it _ .”

One of the large arms reached past her and over the bar, pressing her even tighter between the counter and the hard body behind her. He grabbed a bottle-  _ tequila _ \- and two shot glasses. She watched the disembodied hand pour the drinks, and it wasn’t until he nudged one to her that she picked up the small glass and turned to face him.

Rey took the glass from him and downed it. He didn’t stop looking at her for one second and she could feel the liquor mixing with something altogether different to spread warmth from her belly to her chest. He was still dangerously close, and she stumbled back as far as she could without bending over the bar. Just like that night in his office, Solo leaned in past her cheek, dragging the hard stubble against her skin, and settled his lips against her ear.

“Don’t stay out too late. We’re meeting Hux at 7 am. I’ll send a car.”

Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was just Rey’s imagination, but she could have sworn he pressed his mouth to the spot just below her ear.


End file.
